Gigapixl Camera

Scientists at Duke University have built an experimental camera that allows the user -- after a photo is taken -- to zoom in on portions of the image in extraordinary detail, a development that could fundamentally alter the way images are captured and viewed.

The new camera collects more than 30 times as much picture data as today's best consumer digital devices. While existing cameras can take photographs that have pixel counts in the tens of millions, the Duke device produces a still or video image with a billion pixels -- five times as much detail as can be seen by a person with 20/20 vision.

A pixel is one of the many tiny areas of illumination on a display screen from which an image is composed. The more pixels, the more detailed the image.

The Duke device, called Aware-2, is a long way from being a product. The current version needs lots of space to house and cool its electronic boards; it weighs 100 pounds and is about the size of two stacked microwave ovens. It also takes about 18 seconds to shoot a frame and record the data on a disk.

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This is interesting but you would be surprised to know that the lens means more than the megapixels. I bought a new camera because I was concerned that my $900 8 mp camera was old. Wow, what happened? I took it back. My 8 mp was way better because of the lens.

My phone as an 8 megpixel camera now.

Read the article, you'll learn why this is a ground breaking technology. Imagine being able to take an image from high altitude with out really having to focus in on one particular feature on the ground but being able to zoom in to any part of the image and discern high levels of detail. Hypothetically let's say I could get this camera to 250,000 feet AGL and I took an image of the I-25 corridor from the Wyoming state line to the New Mexico state line. From that single image I could zoom in on the state fairgrounds in Pueblo and count people, scroll up to Colorado Springs and observe Cadets in formation at the Air Force academy, scroll up some more and take a look in some backyard pools around the Pinery... You get the idea, the amount of detail that is in a single image from this camera would be an awesome tool for the war fighting community!

otisptoadwater wrote: Read the article, you'll learn why this is a ground breaking technology. Imagine being able to take an image from high altitude with out really having to focus in on one particular feature on the ground but being able to zoom in to any part of the image and discern high levels of detail. Hypothetically let's say I could get this camera to 250,000 feet AGL and I took an image of the I-25 corridor from the Wyoming state line to the New Mexico state line. From that single image I could zoom in on the state fairgrounds in Pueblo and count people, scroll up to Colorado Springs and observe Cadets in formation at the Air Force academy, scroll up some more and take a look in some backyard pools around the Pinery... You get the idea, the amount of detail that is in a single image from this camera would be an awesome tool for the war fighting community!

I agree I just think it a bit overboard. And I guarantee you our privacy is going to be affected. LOL

I have way too many crappy digital pics and I can't keep track of them all. Gigabytes?

I can just picture Earth in the bathroom holding up this gigapixel camera in the mirror to take a profile pic. rofllol